Sometimes you need to say what’s on your mind using colorful language. But right out of the box, Android can hamper that, making your swear words duller (or just plain wrong). Here’s how to put a stop to that nonsense.

First of all, we should mention that there are many, many choices for keyboards on Android and we can’t possibly cover them all here. Instead, we’re going to talk about the three most popular: Gboard, SwiftKey, and the default Samsung keyboard. If you use something different, similar options may exist, but you may have to dig around in the keyboard’s settings menu to find them.

How to Allow Offensive Language in Gboard

If you’re a Gboard user—that’s Google’s stock keyboard on Pixel devices, but it’s also available in the Play Store—then you’re one toggle away from saying whatever’s on your mind.

To enable offensive language in Gboard, you’ll need to jump into its Settings. The easiest way to do this is to open a text box and then long-press the emoji key/comma. When the three bubble pop up appears, slide over to the cog icon. In the Settings menu, choose the “Text Correction” option.

There’s a toggle here for Block Offensive Words—slide that bad boy off, and you can type whatever you ducking want to.

If you use Voice Text a lot, you’ll notice that it also blocks offensive language by using f****** asterisks to censor you. To change this, jump back into Settings and choose the “Voice Typing” option.

In the Voice menu, slide the “Block Offensive Words” toggle to the off position. Now, you can speak freely.

How to Allow Offensive Language in SwiftKey

By default, SwiftKey is pretty good about letting you say what you want to say as long as you spell correctly on your first try. For example, it won’t replace “fucking” with “ducking,” but if you accidentally type “fuxking,” SwiftKey will not choose “fucking” as the replacement.

To get your text corrections proper, you’ll first need to figure out what your common typos are (yes, it’s some work, I know) and then use text replacement to get your desired outcome.

To do this, open SwiftKey’s Settings menu—you’ll find it in the app drawer. In the menu, choose the “Typing” option.

On the Typing page, tap the “Clipboard” setting. It’s a weird place for SwiftKey to put text correction settings, but that’s where it is.

On the Clipboard page, tap the “Add a New Clip” option. In the New Clip window that pops up, type your typo at the top, the replacement word at the bottom, and then tap “Save.”

From this point forward, whenever you typo that particular word, SwiftKey will automatically replace it with your preferred correction.

How to Allow Offensive Language in Samsung’s Keyboard

Samsung’s keyboard is similar to SwiftKey in that it will let you use offensive language if you spell it correctly. But again, if you typo your vulgarities…it really doesn’t do anything. Samsung’s keyboard is terrible at autocorrect. It’ll make some suggestions, but doesn’t replace the word (in my vulgarity testing, anyway).

Also like SwiftKey, however, you can use text replacement to transform those “fuxking” errors into proper “fucking” text. With a text box open but blank, tap the cog icon in the suggestions bar.

Choose the “Smart Typing” option and then “Text Shortcuts.”

On the Text Shortcuts page, tap the “Add” button at the top right. In the Add Shortcut window that pops up, type enter your typo in the first box and the correct word underneath. When you’re done, tap the “Add” button, and bam—curse away.

Cameron SummersonCameron Summerson is the Editor in Chief of Review Geek and serves as an Editorial Advisor for How-To Geek and LifeSavvy. He’s been covering technology for nearly a decade and has written over 4,000 articles and hundreds of product reviews in that time. He’s been published in print magazines and quoted as a smartphone expert in the New York Times. Read Full Bio »